Two Sides of an Astrel
by Esther-Channah
Summary: Briar has been under a lot of pressure lately. Fortunately, he has a good friend to listen to him.


A/N: Thanks to Kathy and Debbie for the beta.

Timeline: End of _Briar's Book_, the night after Briar saved Rosethorn.

**Two Sides of an Astrel**

Briar tossed and turned, but sleep refused to rescue him. He'd told himself all along that once the pox was cured, there'd be time for relaxation, but after the stresses of the last few weeks, it seemed that he had forgotten how to relax. That, or he was afraid to. Annoyed, he tiptoed to his window and climbed out.

It was a quiet night, warm even for Goose Moon, and the roof thatch was soft and comforting. Before coming to Winding Circle, he'd slept many a night on a pile of straw. It was still more familiar to him than a mattress and sheets. In fact, the oldest bed he could remember had been a heap of straw in a corner on a dirt floor. Briar buried his face in the thatch, ignoring the pokes and scratches. He'd had worse from the rose bushes from which he'd taken his name. He was horrified to feel tears welling up in his eyes. What was he—some useless bag-born bleater, who started to bawl whenever times were tough? He checked himself. If Sandry ever heard him say anything like that...

"What are you doing up?" a sharp voice demanded.

Briar stifled a groan. _Go away, Tris_, he thought desperately. All he needed was a lecture on how everything was well again and he had no reason to cry. She'd probably throw in something about how she'd been shunted from relative to relative, and she'd learned that she couldn't let herself hurt. She'd probably—

"Are you done filling in my half of the conversation?" Tris demanded tartly.

Briar sat up in astonishment.

"Your thoughts are spilling over," she explained. "I didn't intend to pry."

"Lakik's teeth! Can't a fellow have a little privacy?"

"I go on top of the wall for that," Tris remarked. "But at this hour, if privacy was what you were after, you could have just stayed in bed." She peered at him over her spectacles as if daring him to challenge her statement.

Briar growled and flung himself back down in the thatch. "Fine. But I don't want to talk."

"That's all right. I'm a _terrible_ listener."

"Fine."

For a few moments that seemed to stretch into forever, there was silence. Then...

"Thanks for... keeping me anchored today."

Tris made a scoffing sound. "Daja did most of that." Then, more softly, "I... I've lost too many people I care for. I didn't want to add you and Rosethorn to that list."

Briar considered that. "Before I came here," he admitted, "I didn't have anyone I cared for. I had my gang in Deadman's District," he added, "but that was for protection. We helped each other but we..." He took a breath. "If one o' them had come on me bleating and carrying on, they'd've either laughed themselves sick, or told me to suck it up." He felt his face grow hot. "Like what I was thinking you'd do once you heard me," he whispered.

Tris slid next to him. "I'd never laugh at you, Briar. And as for 'sucking it up', isn't that what you've done since Urda's House?"

Briar nodded reluctantly.

"You remember how my magic kept getting away from me before Niko showed me what I could do? That was me... whenever things got too... hard to suck up." She held out a hand to him. "Maybe I _am_ just a...a sniffer skirt, but..."

"Sorry."

Tris smiled. "It's all right. I'm just saying, it doesn't mean I can't have some idea about what you're going through. If your feelings get to a point where you feel like there's a... a geyser tying your insides in knots, wake me." She lay back in the thatch. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, least of all a friend."

Briar regarded her outstretched hand for a moment. Then he spat in his palm and pressed his own hand into hers. "It's a deal, Copper-curls."

Tris' smile froze. "Briar," she said in a strained voice, "please never do that again."

She wiped her palm on the thatch.

Briar started to apologize, but the look of sheer disgust on her face was too much for him. He started to laugh.

Tris stared at him for a dreadful moment. The moonlight glinted off the wire frames of her spectacles. Then she seized hold of the back of his nightshirt with one hand, scooped up a handful of straw with the other, and poured it down his back.

Briar yelped, and grabbed at the thatch.

"If you break through the roof," Lark stuck her head out of Tris's bedroom window, "It will fall to you to repair it."

The children immediately broke off from their tussle.

Lark smiled. "Go back to sleep, both of you, before you wake Rosethorn."

Briar flushed guiltily and hurried to obey. Tris followed.

_Thanks_, he said through their link.

_Anytime._


End file.
